User blog:Pikazilla/Cowboys Review
How-dey-yall, arriba arriba, and whatever makes the red-man red. The American Civil War had an arms race that introduced or perfected multiple types of military and gun innovations; modern ammo cartridges, lever-action, Gatling Guns. The age of the single-shot musket was over, and the high rate of fire of these guns made melee combat effectively obsolete: allowing the escalation of the conquests of Native American and African lands. The idea being that a charge of spearmen, either on foot or on horse, will be mowed down by the hail of bullets (which makes it idiotic when Europeans, who built their Empires on these same tactics, decide to launch multiple disastrous bayonet and cavalry charges against WWI trenches). Several Native tribes did indeed charge to their deaths, unaware of these modern weapons. However many tribes, both Native African and Native American, were not completely oblivious to this revolution; while the infamous Zulu defeat at The Battle of Rorke's Drift was disastrous, despite the lack of British machine guns, it was still a reasonable ambush and the Zulu did have some riflemen of their own: the Zulu assumed correctly that this army had no machine guns at the time and committed to guerilla warfare to attempt to limit the damage. The Battle of Little-Big-Horn (which sounds like an oxymoron) shows a similar scenario. Sioux leaders Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull used their cavalry and nomadic lifestyle to easily flee from any army dragging slow and heavy cannons or Gatling Guns: aware of their absurd firepower. US Colonel George Armstrong Custer meanwhile underestimated the Sioux army and concluded that it would be better to fight cavalry vs cavalry: which is what the majority of Wild West combat is considered to be like. Too bad that Custer didn’t realize he would be surrounded and outnumbered at least 3-1 at Little-Big-Horn, OOPS. Any Cowboy film would point out the many risks living in the Wild West would produce. A territory so vast and underpopulated makes security extremely spare, and in some towns, virtually nonexistent. Gangsters like Curly Bill Brocius, Jeffery Soapy Smith II, Tom “Black Jack” Ketchum and of course Jesse James (-Meowth) terrified small towns with their Youtube-Profile-Nicknames. Native Americans raided regularly, wanting the illegal immigrants to leave their countries (times never change). And the political instability of Mexico producing rebels and bandits with the newest fashion statement of moustaches, bandoliers and sombreros: VIVA VILLA! This is also the beginning of the end of the bayonets, as well as the rise of military knives and other small weapons: close combat now uses sidearms instead of a primary weapon. For melee combat to even be considered; you would need to have your relatively reliable lever-action rifle run out of its magazine of about 10-15 rounds, then have your revolvers (which you might have two of) to run out of its/their 6 rounds, and THEN you need to consider if you should reload behind cover or risk getting shot yourself by an opponent who potentially has an arsenal similar to yours. And even then; keep in mind that your opponent can still use pistol-whipping or rifle-buttstroking to defend themselves: it might seem odd to use your guns as clubs, however they are technically made out of wood and metal like actual ancient clubs, so it does indeed work to a reasonable degree. Now I want to explore the concept of Carbines: why make your gun shorter? Let’s compare the Winchester 1866 Rifle Model and 1894 Carbine Model for reference. 66 Model: 250 yard range, 9.5 lb, 49.3 in length, 15 rounds 94 Model: 200 yard range, 6.8 lb, 37.8 in length, 10 rounds It sounds absurd for the 94 Model, almost 30 years newer, would have an inferior range and magazine size. However size is the whole point: the 94 Carbine is about 25% shorter and so is also about 25% lighter. Range is less relevant on horseback because accuracy is so difficult when bouncing on a pony. And keep in mind that a horse weighs between half to one ton: you don’t want to stay still to aim, you’re horse is an easy target if you do: you ride a horse to exploit its superior speed, you are firing this rifle at FULL GALLOP, 30 MPH. As for ammunition: it would be quite impressive, and nearly impossible, to go full gallop and score accurate hits with all 15 rounds before your pony runs so far that it effectively disengages the combat zone: a perfect time to simply reload. Now deciding if you want a rifle or a carbine is purely based on preference, but this still shows why Carbines were a popular choice, even if they aren’t the only choice. If you ever wonder why Special Forces like Navy SEALS and SWAT still use Carbines, it’s because of the aforementioned maneuverability. Special Forces use snipers, but they are also trained to engage in missions requiring them to enter indoor or urban locations where long range becomes less relevant and agility becomes vital. A standard battlefield is for a standard soldier, Special Forces are… special. I do want to also mention the .44-40 Winchester rounds: the fact that these rounds work for both Winchester rifles AND most revolver pistols of that era makes is very interesting. However as rifles modernized, they needed higher calibers for longer range; so this trait is no longer relevant for most armies. I will point out that WWI saw the transition of lever-action into bolt-action. Winchesters did exist in both World Wars, but the lever action could not be used in a Prone position; and with snipers dominating the battlefield, a rifleman could not afford such a handicap that would force him out of a Prone. Prone minimizes the profile of a soldier, and combine this with hiding behind the trench or bunker walls, it is the best defense possible for a sniper. Sub-machineguns had inferior range to the rifle, which is why they the majority of infantry soldiers in WWI and WWII were riflemen: however the mentality was to have at least one man in a squad with a portable automatic weapon to overwhelm enemy squads at mid-range. Both of these techniques made horses effectively obsolete as well; snipers and automatic fire making quick work of such massive targets. Bye bye cowboy. Category:Blog posts